


The Year Of The Rabbit

by callmechristinae



Series: Livejournal Migration [11]
Category: Rent - Larson
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-02-19
Updated: 2006-02-19
Packaged: 2017-12-26 21:39:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/970565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callmechristinae/pseuds/callmechristinae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The boys celebrate the year of the rabbit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Year Of The Rabbit

_January 29th, 1987_

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

Roger quickly shot out of bed, flopping to the ground in a tangle of blankets as it sounded like World War III had begun outside his window. His eyes darted around wildly, taking in the pile of dirty laundry, his guitar, the pile of papers, and the lack of Mark. In his still hazy mind, Roger assumed, of course, that Mark was outside under attack by the missiles being fired by Canada. Why he thought that it was Canada attacking he’ll never remember, but it seemed right at the time.

“Mark! Mark!” Roger shouted as he pulled on his pants and a t-shirt, grabbing for his leather jacket as he rushed into the loft’s main room. Looking around, he couldn’t find Collins or Benny either.

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

“Mark! Where the hell are you!?” Roger rushed over to the fire escape and looked down to the street, where he was greeted by a very confusing sight.

Mark was sitting on the side of the street, tightly wrapped up in his blanket, his ever present camera on and filming. Collins and Benny were hunched over in the street, attempting to light some matches. When they finally succeeded, they lit a red string of somethings and leapt back.

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

“What the hell are you guys doing?” He yelled down, completely and utterly confused.

“Chasing away evil spirits! You want to help?” Benny yelled back up with a huge grin on his face.

Roger muttered some words that would make his mother blush before heading back into the loft and down the stairs. Sometimes he wondered about the sanity of these kids from Brown. Sure they had been in the loft longer than him, but he had been in the lifestyle longer. He was glad that Maureen chick had moved out, but at least she slept in late. It was things like this that made him wonder if the boys were in their right minds.

_cracklecracklecrackle_

“That one sucked,” Mark sighed, pulling his blanket around him tighter. 

Collins frowned down at the burnt portion of the street, kicking at the growing pile of soot. “Maybe that one was expired or something.”

“Can they be expired? Don’t they just last forever?” Benny asked, pulling another string with small red cylinders attached out of the box and tossing it onto the street. “Let’s try these.” Collins stepped back as Benny lit the match, setting the fuse aflame.

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

The explosions went off just as Roger stepped out the door. The songwriter fell to the ground in surprise, his hand clenching over his heart. “What the fuckin’ fuck!?”

“It’s to chase away the evil spirits,” Collins explained matter of factly. “The explosions scare them.”

“You just want to blow stuff up,” Roger replied, getting back on his feet before plopping down next to Mark. Collins shrugged with a grin, setting another string on fire.

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

“We’re celebrating part of the heritage of this great nation,” Benny continued. “It’s Chinese New Year.”

“And why the fuck are we celebrating Chinese New Year this early in the morning? In fact, why the fuck are we celebrating at all?” Roger groaned, flopping onto his back.

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

“It’s a holiday where explosions are a tradition. Why wouldn’t Collins want to celebrate?” Mark replied, continuing his filming with a bored expression on his face. “We’ve got a big bag of fortune cookies upstairs too.”

“Joy.”

“C’mon Roger, cheer up!” Benny laughed, pulling out another string of firecrackers. “It’s the year of the rabbit!”

“You say that like it’s supposed to mean something to me Benjamin.” Roger tossed his arm over his face, closing his eyes.

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

The musician quickly sat up again. He was definitely not getting anymore sleep today.

“You know, there’s a legend that the moon is inhabited by rabbits and three legged frogs,” Collins mentioned off-handedly.

“Yeah, and rabbits have the recipe for the elixir of immortality,” Benny went on.

“Ingrid Bergman was born in the year of the rabbit,” Mark added.

“Was that the chick in that old ‘round up the usual suspects’ ‘here’s lookin’ at you kid’ movie?” Roger asked.

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

“Yup,” Mark replied.

“Rabbits enjoy a good conversation, reading, and intellectual discussions,” Collins pointed out.

“Do they like moonlit walks on the beach too?” Roger replied sarcastically.

“Don’t be so upset Roger, it’s a holiday,” Benny shot back, almost whining.

“None of us are Chinese! What’s next? Mexican Independence Day?”

“That’s not till September,” Mark sighed.

“This is such a load of shit. I was having a perfectly good sleep, but no, I have to get up cause you guys want to blow stuff up.”

“It’s the new year. We need to chase away the evil spirits!” Benny shouted, leaping backwards. He seemed to be taking a little too much joy in Roger’s suffering.

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

“We should make this a tradition,” Collins decided.

“Isn’t already a tradition?” Mark asked, grinning at the bitter look on Roger’s face.

“Yeah, but, I mean, with us. We could do this every year.”

“You do this every fuckin’ year and I’m going to fuckin’ kill all of you,” Roger muttered.

“C’mon Roger, get in the spirit. Say it with me: Gung Hei Fat Choi.” Mark chuckled as Roger turned towards him with a look of disbelief on his face.

“Goon Hay Fat What?”

“Gung Hei Fat Choi.”

“What the fuck does that mean? ‘Happy let’s scare the shit out of Roger day’?”

“No, it’s a wish for prosperity for the coming year.”

“Oh. But, aren’t we, like, supposed to get money on Chinese New Year?”

“I thought you weren’t interested in this shit?”

“If I get money I am.”

“Well, we’re all broke, so, too bad.”

“Don’t worry boys, when I build this cyber studio, I’ll be fuckin’ loaded. Then I’ll give you guys tons of money on Chinese New Year,” Benny shouted, lighting another string.

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

“You do that Ben,” Mark sighed, returning to his filming. He turned away from his two roommates, who were currently dancing around the final string of firecrackers like giddy schoolchildren.

“Close on Roger, tired with thoughts of murder dashing through his head.”

“What the fuck are you filming me for?” Roger asked, peering into the camera lens.

“I’m bored.”

“Well, since you aren’t blowing stuff up, I’ll just kill them,” Roger deadpanned.

“Thanks, I think,” Mark replied, shutting his camera off.

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

“All done! Evil spirits have been vanquished!” Collins shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. He and Benny quickly set about cleaning up the mess that they had made, getting more dust on themselves than into the box.

Roger got to his feet, dusting his pants off before reaching down to pull up the young filmmaker. “C’mon, let’s ditch these lunatics and go down to the Life. You and me.”

“Really?” Mark questioned, surprised by the question. He and Roger never did things just the two of them. Him and Collins, yes. Him and Benny, yes. Him, Collins and Roger, yes. Him and Roger, never.

“Yeah. Think of it as a bribe to not tell the police where I hide the bodies,” Roger joked, already moving down the street.

“Um, yeah, sure!” Mark quickly folded his blanket up, tucking it under his arm and hurrying after his roommate.

Roger grinned as the skinny blonde kid tried to keep up. If he had to get something out of this, he might as well get a new best friend. After all, Collins was trying to get that teaching gig at MIT soon and Benny was always trying to move on to bigger and better things. This Mark kid didn’t seem too bad and, who knows, maybe they’d actually end up sticking together for awhile.


End file.
